and the other long-wool sheep have been the 
support of the English worsted manufacture 
and have been cultivated more for their 
fleeces than for their mutton. The woolen 
manufacture of England is one of its special 
industries, and some branches of it depend 
wholly upon the home production for their 
raw material. It is not many years ago since 
sheets and even shrouds for funeral purposes 
were made of wool, and even now one Eng¬ 
lishman will use more wool in his clothing 
than three Americans. There are some shoddy 
and some cotton mixed with wool in England, 
but not so much as there is here, where an 
undergarment of pure wool is not to be seen, 
and where one-half or more of our “ woolen ” 
clothing is not wool. 
another as 1,224 days old. This is such a con¬ 
spicuous fraud, if the facts are true, that we 
can scarcely conceive of a person who is not 
an imbecile or an idiot practising it, because 
of the certainty of discovery. If, however, 
the facts are as alleged, the party referred to 
has simply obtained money by false pretenses 
and is amenable to a criminal prosecution for 
the offense. It is easy to make charges, but 
when such a charge as this is made it ought 
certainly to be made in a court, and the per¬ 
son at fault be punished as he deserves, or the 
charge shown to be a false one. 
£i) t Suntit'-ijeri). 
These matters are not of great practical 
interest any way, but we cannot afford to ig¬ 
nore the value of wool here, nor to forget that 
for one carcass of mutton there are several 
crops of wool, and that some sheep will yield 
a greater weight, and most of them a greater 
value, of wool during their life than of mut¬ 
ton at their death. 
Now, if we take a broad view of the case 
and not a single one, as suggested by A, I 
think still we must claim the preference for 
wool in England, as we certainly must here. 
And again, A mentions only the South- 
Down, the mutton sheep par excellence, in 
support of his view's. Certainly it would 
be a great thing for our farmers if they 
could produce such mutton as would tempt 
Americaus to become mutton eaters. But I 
must confess they have as yet little encour¬ 
agement for it, and must continue to think of 
wool first and mutton last, and I could not 
conscientiously try to lead them to think 
otherwise. 
A great amount of cruelty is inflicted upon 
our animals through mere thoughtlessness. A 
farmer leaves his horses for the night in a 
stable the w r alls of which are plentifully pro¬ 
vided with wide cracks, through which the 
wind is forced by a strong breeze, at a tem¬ 
perature of zero perhaps. He shakes up the 
litter under them, closes the door, and goes to 
rest, covering himself with extra blankets 
because the night is extra cold. And the 
good but thoughtless mau actually believes 
that he would be injuring his horses if he 
strapp’d a blanket around their shivering 
bodies as a pro¬ 
tection from the 
severity of the 
weather. It is no 
just recompense 
for this that the 
a u i m a 1 s thus 
treated may suf¬ 
fer and the own¬ 
er lose money by 
their sufferings, 
because henever 
recognizes the 
loss or the causes 
of it. “What the 
eye never Eees 
the heart never 
grieves” is an old 
and trite adage. 
But if oue could 
only keep his 
eyesopen always 
what griefs 
w o u 1 d fill his. 
soul 1 
PIG NOTES FROM KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Breeding, Care-Taking and Feeding. 
The cross-bred pigs are the best for fatten¬ 
ing. This assertion may seem a little bold, if 
not preposterous, when we have heard so 
much in regard to the merits of the different 
breeds of thoroughbred swine. As I have 
three varieties of pure bred swine, the state¬ 
ment cannot be considered selfish. The cross¬ 
breeding, however, should be properly done; 
that is to say, there should be a combination 
of blood or breeds to produce the desired re¬ 
sults. This may be brought about by crossing 
the finer with the coarser breeds. This combi¬ 
nation of blood will impart to the offspring 
the virtue of taking on flesh readily, together 
with the easy-keeping characteristics of the 
finer breeds, and the strong appetites and vig¬ 
orous constitutions of the larger breeds, which 
is an important consideration and one of the 
distinguishing qualities of the large breeds. 
An objection to the smaller and finer breeds 
of pigs is the inclination to lay on flesh, w hen 
liberally fed, faster than their bones will carry 
it; in other words, they get so very fat that 
there is not a corresponding growth of bone 
and muscle to support it, and they become 
helpless specimens of obesity. Unite this pro¬ 
pensity for fattening with an inclination to 
grow large—with pleuty of bone and muscle— 
aud the breeder has a profitable combination 
—pigs the best adapted to his use for fatten¬ 
ing. No single breed of thoroughbred hogs 
possesses all of these desirable qualities to the 
extent of the cross-bred; but they are neces- 
Fig. 88. 
sary to produce these results. And just in 
proportion as they are thoroughbred are they 
more valuable. The more pure blood we have, 
the better. To obtain the greatest benefits the 
sire should be of the smaller and finer breeds 
and the dam of the coarser. A cross of this 
kind upon grade or common hogs will always 
be beneficial; for the refining effect of the 
sire’s blood will be transmitted to the off¬ 
spring, as well as the inclination to fatten 
easily and on less food. For this reason it 
tious, and the hulls furnish material for the 
distention of the bowels. There is no single 
kind of grain better adapted for them, as 
there is in it a proper combination of both nu¬ 
tritive aud waste material. 
A grist mill near by separates the cobs from 
the corn, and, in the piocess of shelling the 
corn, cracks the cobs into fine bits. These 
cobs, considered as refuse, have been thrown 
into the stream or used to fill mud-holes. It 
occurred to me that they would make good 
How to Break a Horse of Pulling at 
the Halter, was asked by an inquirer in a 
A desire for 
change is 1 he 
bane of our agri¬ 
culture, and es¬ 
pecially of that 
branch of it 
which includes 
the keeping of 
live stock. No 
man makes a suc¬ 
cess of keeping 
any kinds of live 
stock who has 
not made it the 
business of his 
life. The Ken¬ 
tucky breeders 
who have kept 
Short-horns for 
a generation 
have the whole 
country at their 
feet, aud some¬ 
times the English 
breeders come down to them. The Vermont 
sheep breeders likewise have the practical 
monopoly of the market for their stock, and 
so it is with every kind. 
An ugly charge is made against a promi¬ 
nent exhibitor of Hereford cattle at the Chi¬ 
cago Live Stock Show. It is said that one of 
his prize steers shown as 500 days old in the 
class of two years and under, was showm in 
another ^class as 1,0 80 days old, and again in 
will always pay to patronize thoroughbred 
sires. 
There is much waste in feeding pigs, espe¬ 
cially when fattening time comes. If the 
pigs only eat all that is given to them, the 
owner imagines they are thriving wonderful¬ 
ly. Very often they would thrive faster on 
half of the feed. If the owner would take the 
trouble to examine the excrement he would 
find undigested food mixed all through it; and 
then he would learn that eating and digesting 
are two different functions. The excrement 
is not only an index of the work of the stom¬ 
ach, but of the general health of the animal. 
When the faeces are dry and hard they denote 
a feverish condition, and when they are 
watery and emit a rank smell they indicate 
derangement of the stomach, In neither of 
these conditions will a pig, or any other ani¬ 
mal, thrive; and they are sure to follow when 
animals are over-fed or fei continuously on 
too heating food. It is real!}' an art to feed 
pigs to the best advantage aud make the feed 
go as far as possible towards forming flesh. 
It requires close observation and careful con¬ 
sideration of all the surrounding circum¬ 
stances. Not one man in 20 is an expert in 
feeding pigs. I write more from the stand¬ 
point of failure than success, ami so w’ould 
most farmers if they were caretul to notice 
and acknowledge the truth. 
Lice will make a pig poor. Two good wash¬ 
ings with kerosene oil will kill the vermin. 
The second washing is necessary to destroy 
nits (eggs), which may hatch out. Every por¬ 
tion of the surface of the bod}' must besmear¬ 
ed with the oil to make clean work. Hogs 
should be examined frequently to see if they 
are lousy. They are not so apt to get vermin 
when the skin is kept clean and free from 
scurf. The scurf seems to invite the vermin, 
as it affords hiding places for them. Wash¬ 
ing with soap-suds, followed by smearing with 
kerosene oil and lard, will not only make the 
skin clean, but soften and heal it. 
A wet bed is very liable to bring on rheu¬ 
matism, and this is the reason why so many 
pigs are stiff and lame. Sleeping in a cold 
draft will also cause rheumatism in pigs. Pigs 
resemble human beings more closely than any 
other animal, 8nd wLen this fact is fully rec¬ 
ognized by their owners the better it will be 
for both. 
Buckwheat bran is a cheap aud healthful 
food for pigs, young or old. The coarse flour 
in the brau is excellent for them, being nutri¬ 
badding for the pigs, and also add to the 
value of the manure pile. The trial has been 
very satisfactory, as they make a dry and 
clean bed for n number of days, lasting longer 
than straw and worth more for manure, as 
they contain more potash. They will also 
absorb more of the wet in the pen. It doesn’t 
pay to throw anything down stream which 
will rot, absorb, or can be burned. The land 
is too hungry. 
&\)t ijorseman. 
CLYDESDALE STALLION-PRINCE OF 
MACHARS. 
In the picture, Fig. 38, we present to our 
readers a likeness of the Clydesdale stallion, 
Prince of Maehars, owned by Messrs. Powell 
Bros,, Springl'oro, Pa. These gentlemen take 
great care in selecting superior animals on the 
other side of tho Atlantic, and during the 
year 1881 they made nineteen importations, 
numbering 122 head. The Clydesdales are 
gaining rapidly in public favor in this coun¬ 
try, a fact demonstrated by the great increase 
in the number of those imported. A cable¬ 
gram from Glasgow on January 25, 1882, an¬ 
nounced that the Allan steamer Manitoban 
had just left that port for Boston, Mass., with 
83 Clydesdale stallions—tho largest shipment 
that ever left the Clyde; and scarcely a week 
passes that does not bring to this country 
smaller importations of this fine breed. 
♦ • »- 
HORSE BREEDING ON THE GREAT 
WESTERN PLAINS. 
This is destined to be not only one of the 
largest but also one of the most profitable 
branches of business farmers ou the vast 
plains bordering on the Rocky Mountains can 
engage in. The Indian ponies and mustangs 
found there are exceedingly hardy, enduring 
animals, but entirely too small for the gener¬ 
al purposes of civilization. lu order to breed 
properl}' for this purpose, our most improved 
stallions of various sorts must be taken there 
to cross on the native mares ; and when this 
is done, they must be selected with judgment, 
and not be allowed to make too violent u 
cross, otherwise the purpose will defeat¬ 
ed, and instead of obtaming an improved 
foal over the mare, she will give birth to 
a m ere abor¬ 
tion. 
The proper and 
most successful 
method of breed¬ 
ing will be to 
put mures only 
14 hands high to 
strong, compact 
t h o r o u g hbred 
stallions not ex¬ 
ceeding 15 hands. 
The produce of 
such would make 
elegant, high- 
spirited, hand¬ 
somely stepping 
saddle horses and 
roadsters for 
light vehicles- 
Mares 11 } j up to 
15 hands should 
be crossed w itli 
pony-built trot¬ 
ters, about one 
hand I uger than 
themselves. The 
produce of su<4i 
a cross would 
prove excellent 
for lii nu work 
on the lighter 
soils, as wed as 
be found suffi¬ 
ciently powerful 
and stylish for 
the gentleman's 
family carriage 
in the city. Mares 
lohands and over 
could be safely 
bred to the IVr- 
cheron and oth¬ 
er large c lasses of 
stallions not 
weighing over 
1,500 to 1,000 
pounds, compact 
in shup *, aud fine 
in all points 
for their size, and especially well set up in 
their heels, with tough, open hoofs aud strong 
limbs. The produce of these would prove ad¬ 
mirable for express horses, and the finest of 
them would be suitable for the gentleman’s 
country carriage, for more powerful horses 
are wanted on the heavy roads there than in 
the city. 
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